on his way

Just after midnight last night, Art picked up Sara & Kevin at the Vancouver airport. Once he had them safely home, he hit the road to come back to Endako. I was a little worried about him driving all night but he said he slept most of yesterday and felt well rested. The sky was clear, the moon was bright, he's got those new super cool driving lights (which I'm pretty sure you can see from space) and he had the "tracker" on. So....no problem.This was another VERY worth it investment. It's called a "spot"....satellite personal tracker. There have been many times when we've been out in the wilds and ended up in places we had no intention of going. This would have been great to have. Yes, we had a satellite phone, but in all honesty, that thing cost way, way too much money and only worked part of the time. Not impressed. This little contraption is perfect. It will send "I'm OK", "send help", or "911" messages. It will also track our routes. It works with Google Maps, so people can pinpoint our exact co-ordinates.

So, while Art is driving home today, he has the device on and sitting on the dash. Every 10 minutes it transmits his location and I can go online to see where he is. Now I know exactly how much time I have to scurryfunge.

did I mention mud?

Yup, we got plenty of it. Yesterday's 2 inch snowfall has now melted and added to the soup we call a driveway. While in Vancouver, Art and I both made a little investment in these.They are called Bogs and we bought them at Lee Valley. Without a doubt they are the best rubber boots I have ever found. They're toasty warm and cushy soft, which are pretty nice features, but the number 1 for me is that the calf is stretchy. Never in my life.....EVER....have I found a boot that fits my foot and my calf at the same time. I am in love with these boots.

After we got home from Vancouver, Art made a trip back down on his own. He's been there all this past week, house and dog sitting for Sara & Kevin while they take a much needed vacation to Mexico. While he's been gone I've been on "chicken duty". During my daily outdoor trek, Xena and I play fetch ... in the mud. Well, more Xena than me. I mostly just stand there. She does all the running around. And she doesn't seem to mind getting thoroughly filthy.But not all of the driveway is horrible. The parts that Art, Tom & Eddie worked so hard on last summer .... putting in culverts, clearing ditches and laying gravel .... those parts are draining beautifully.There's still a lot of snow around. This was taken from part way down the driveway, looking back toward the house.Back to the subject of chickens. Ewie is very curious about the critters inside this coop.The other day they got out (I don't know...) and he was only too happy to lend a hand with the "roundup".He did pretty good, too. Trouble was he'd get 'em all herded together and then ........ pounce .... right into the middle. And they'd scatter.

So, I had to capture him (which was no easy task) and lock him in the shed while I finished the job. It was no big deal really. They all just wandered back into the coop on their own.

did someone say "spring"?

Not today. This is what I woke up to.....

...and home again

We finally made it back home to Endako. Winter is still hanging on here, but the slow spring thaw is creating a lot of mud.Hey...notice the nice new fender flares? Kinda had to add those because the rust was starting to eat away at our little truck. A real problem around here.This is what the yard looked like.......but then, here's how it looked yesterday morning.....It really can't make up it's mind.

One of the many reasons we went to Vancouver was to retrieve our yard rock collection from the old house.I'd say we got about 1/3 of it (or less). Trouble is, rocks are heavy. Can't haul too many at a time.

We also did some shopping. Stocked up on some delectables that we can't buy up here, including a bunch of Weight Watchers approved items that can only be found in the USA (Art & Sara did a run to Point Roberts one day).As we wander around the yard, things are being revealed that were lost months ago when the snow first came. And nature does interesting artwork, too. This barrel is still frozen to the ground while everything around it has melted. Someone might pay big bucks for that if it was sitting in front of an art gallery.I was very happy to see Chickie......and Blackie.Art missed his kitty, Boose.......but I think Xena and Ewie missed each other most of all.He looks a little dishevelled after that greeting. Normally he's a very pristine white.But they kiss and make up....for now.Ewie gets HIS later....After all the "hello's" were done, Art checked the garden.Yup, a fine crop of clover goin' on.Xena is just LOVING her freedom.Rolling and running are way fun in her books.But sometimes, so is just sitting and contemplating. It's good to be home.

H a p p y B i r t h d a y

Sara & Treena

I hope you have a beautiful day

what's new?

Geez, it's been a long time since I posted last. What HAVE I been doing?

Well, we went to Vancouver for a week and stayed for 3. The trip down was tiring, I remember (13 hours on the road), and even though neither of us did any of the driving both Xena and I were exhausted.We spent one weekend at our club's rock and gem show, which is always a hoot. I'm surprised I don't have any good pictures, especially of Art running the "spin & win" game. He's like the pied piper when it comes to showing little kids (and some old ones) how to have fun.

Art needed a new computer so he and Kevin built one.Sara and Xena watched.Actually, Xena was eyeing up what Sara had in that bowl so created a clever diversion by licking Sara into submission and then snuck a mouthful.

(sorry for the blurry shots).

So, the new computer is a monster and once it was altogether Art rolled it into a corner and set up shop.While we were in Vancouver, Lucy (Sara & Kevin's dog) introduced Xena to a "doggie park".She LOVED it! I found it fun to stand in the middle and take tons and tons of pictures of all the doggie "action". More on that later.

It was surprisingly cold, but March is a fickle month. This is Sara & Kevin, Lucy & Xena near Rocky Point in Port Moody/IOCO.Fresh snow on Mount Seymour in the background.And then there's nothing like Sunday morning breakfast. I had the 4th laptop over on the other side of the room. What a bunch of yuppies.And before you ask....no...we were not sending each other emails.